Who would've thought that a practical, fun, easy-to-read customer service book would capture the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers? Now, celebrating its 20th anniversary, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service has been completely revised and is better than ever! Still the go-to guide on providing the kind of outstanding service that keeps customers coming back, the fifth edition combines powerful tools and techniques with real-world examples and all-new chapters on using social media for communication and service recovery, owning service encounters, responding positively to negative feedback, and more. The book provides readers with proven tips and strategies for: * Exceeding customer needs and expectations * Determining the right times to bend or break the rules * Becoming fantastic fixers and powerful problem-solvers * Using the RATER factors to wow your customers * Understanding cultural and generational differences * Becoming a listening post * Coping effectively with "customers from hell" With people surrounded by more choices and information than ever before, true customer loyalty has become increasingly difficult to attain. Combining timeless wisdom and up-to-the-minute methods, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service is the book no customer service professional can afford to be without.

Foreword
Our Thanks
Preface
The Fundamental Principles of Knock Your Socks Off Service
The Only Unbreakable Rule: To the Customer You Are the Company
Know What Knock Your Socks Off Service Is
Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Reliable
Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: (Re)-Assuring
Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Tangibles
Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Empathetic
Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Responsive
The Customer Is Always. . The Customer
The How To's of Knock Your Socks Off Service
Honesty Is the Only Policy
All Rules Were Meant to Be Broken (Including This One)
Creating Trust in an Insecure, Suspicious World
Taking Ownership of Your Service Encounters
Become a Listening Post
Asking Intelligent Questions
Winning Words and Soothing Phrases
Facts for Face-to-Face
Tips for Telephone Talk
It's a Small World: Culturally Sensitive Service
The Generational Divide: Serving Age-Diverse Customers
Communicating Knock Your Socks Off Service
Co-Workers as Partners: Communicating Across Functions
Exceptional Service Is in the Details
Good Selling Is Good Service Good Service Is Good Selling
Communicating with Customers in the Digital Age
Putting Your Best E-Mail Foot Forward
Responding Positively to Negative Feedback
Never Underestimate the Value of a Sincere Thank-You
The Problem-Solving Side of Knock Your Socks Off Service
Be a Fantastic Fixer
The Axioms of Service Recovery
Use the Well-Placed "I'm Sorry"
Fix the Person
Fair-Fix the Problem
Service Recovery in the Digital Age
Recovery: Social Media Style
Customers from Hell® Are Customers, Too
The Customers from Hell® Hall of Shame
Knock Your Socks Off Service Fitness: Taking Care of You
Master the Art of Calm
Keep It Professional
The Competence Principle: Always Be Learning
Party Hearty Activities Connections "The Knock Your Socks Off" Library
Index
About Performance Research Associates, Inc.
About the Editors
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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<html><head></head><body>Preface What You Do Is Critically Important “It’s not enough to merely satisfy the customer; customers must be ‘delighted’— surprised by having their needs not just met, but exceeded.” —A. Blanton Godfrey Serving customers. The two words cover so much. Answering questions. Solving problems. Untangling corporate logjams. Fixing what’s broken and finding what’s lost. Soothing the irate and reassuring the timid. And time after time, performing the business equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Not too long ago, working in customer service was just about as thankless a job as a person could find. Sales? That was a job with a future. Marketing? Now there was a title with some prestige. Digital marketing? Wow, the wave of the future. Advertising? What mystique! Web page design—really cool! But customer service? Backwater. A burden. A career path to nowhere. Fellow employees looked down their noses at “those people who deal with whining customers.” And customers— well, they mostly seemed to see customer service as a title for not very bright people who woke up most mornings, looked in the mirror, grinned wide, and said to their reflections, “This is going to be a fun day. I’m going to go down there and annoy the first 217 people I talk to.” And then did just that. Not exactly positive images. In the late 1990s, about the time of the dot.com debacle, professional business watchers began to re-learn something important. They discovered that organizations that had dedicated themselves to working hard at giving their customers superior service were producing better financial results. These organizations grew faster and were more profitable than the organizations that were still working as hard as they could to give their customers as little as possible, whether online, over the phone, or face-to-face. Now, in the second decade of the new millennium, it’s not just about focusing on customers, it’s about creating loyal ones. That’s where the real money is. In short, companies that emphasize total customer service make more money and keep customers longer than companies that don’t. Researchers also started to notice that highly successful service organizations had lower marketing costs, fewer upset and complaining customers, and more repeat business— customers were “voting with their feet” and beating a path back to the doors of the companies that served them well. What’s more, good service had internal rewards: Employee turnover and absenteeism were lower and morale and job satisfaction higher in these same organizations. Companies that asked employees to make customers happy had happier employees. Almost overnight, being customer-focused, understanding and meeting customer needs, and coddling customers with Tender Loving Care became a critical organizational goal. And received spotlight attention. Books were written. Banners hung. And speeches made—all trumpeting the importance of customer service. A revolution in the way customer service was viewed and valued began—and continues to this day. In the two decades since the start of the latest service revolution, we’ve all learned a lot about what it takes to create and sustain a service advantage. As the world grows ever smaller, we’ve learned that good service requires a new sensitivity to the cultural differences and varied service expectations of customers we serve around the globe. As Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials continue to collide in the workplace, we’ve learned that each generation has distinct service preferences that we need to account for in how we plan or deliver service. And for all we’ve learned, for all that has been written and said, the most important part of creating a “service advantage” is still... you. What you do is important. What you do is work—hard work. Answering questions. Solving problems. Untangling corporate logjams. Fixing what’s broken and finding what’s lost. Soothing the irate and reassuring the timid. Matching people you do business with with just the right products and services, and helping them enjoy and get the most out of those purchases. Twenty years ago, Ron and Kristin penned the original Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service to share with you what we had learned about quality customer care during fifteen years of watching and working with thousands of customer- oriented customer service professionals. People just like you who provide great service over and over and over again; true Knock Your Socks Off Service pros who make their customers’ lives and jobs simpler instead of more difficult, more interesting and less boring—and who have a heck of a good time doing it, too. In the ensuing two decades we have had the opportunity to work with thousands of customer service professionals worldwide. And we have learned even more about the fine art of delivering world class customer care. We have taken those lessons in hand and to heart, and we present here for your consideration the Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service: 20th Anniversary Edition. You’ll notice something new in the back matter of this edition: We have included a cross reference feature that ties back to our book, 101 Activities for Knock Your Socks Off Service. The recommended activities are tied to specific chapters of this book as an additional resource. Whether you are new to customer service or an old pro, we think there is something here for you. What you do is more important to your organization than ever before. If this book helps you to do it even a little bit better, your thanks should go not to us, but to the thousands of pros who served as our teachers and mentors. And if you find the journey through these pages not only helpful but enjoyable, then we’ll have met our customer service goal. Performance Research Associates Minneapolis, MN February 2011 </body></html>

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